I have read, and read, and read...and the more I read, the more confused I get.

The questions I am looking for include but are not limited to:

What are the good ingredients to look for in a cat food? dog food?

Which products to try to avoid?

I live in a very small town, with no pet stores, so usually have to go to Walmart or grocery stores. Any good or decent choices there?

A little while back, I tried Canidae and Felidae - and none, none, none of mine would eat it! I bought those online - paid a fortune for shipping.

Sorry to be so dumb after trying to read the good advice here, just hoping someone can sum it up for me.

Thanks,
Diane

phoozles

January 24th, 2008, 05:51 PM

I can help a bit in the cat department..

If you have no choice other than Walmart, etc., then I would look at Fancy Feast or SOME choices of Friskies wet.
The ingredients you're looking for are a meat listed first - either a plain listing (i.e. Turkey, Chicken, etc) or a meat "meal" (i.e. Chicken meal) (NOT a by-product) - and it's even better if you can find several meat ingredients listed before grains make an appearance in the list.

Trying to avoid the grains is the best idea, especially for cats. That's my :2cents: :)

Walmart sells a brand called Actrium Holistic. Surprisingly the ingredients aren't horrible. All the other foods in the Actrium line are bad though, so if you must shop at Walmart make sure you only get the holistic line. I think there is both cat and dog food.

As for things to look for when reading labels, off the top of my head, look for names of actual animals, no poultry-by-product meal, no egg product, no fish meal or fish oil. Make sure it's specific about which animal or fish it's from. Um, avoid anything with the word by-product in it. Avoid corn and wheat gluten. Avoid Menadione Sodium Bisulphate, it's a synthetic vitamin K supplement associated with all sorts of bad things, cancer being one of them.

I know there's more, anyone else?

dmc123

January 24th, 2008, 06:41 PM

more good info, thanks. :)

Diane

rainbow

January 24th, 2008, 06:46 PM

Go to www.dogfoodproject.com and click on the "Ingredients to Avoid" link on the left hand side of the page. The other links there are full of great information as well. :thumbs up

Also, where in North Carolina do you live? Is that where the Walmart is?

dmc123

January 24th, 2008, 06:51 PM

Rainbow,

Thanks for the link, I will go there now.

I live in a small town near Asheville, we have a Walmart.

Diane

rainbow

January 24th, 2008, 07:33 PM

Innova is a good choice, Naturapet (www.naturapet.com) also makes EVO and California Natural that are good as well. Here's the store locator for Asheville, N.C.

http://www.naturapet.com/where-to-buy/default.asp

geisha

January 25th, 2008, 01:10 PM

www.dogaware.com is another great website.
Good luck & remember it's what your pet does best on that's the best food for your dog.:thumbs up

We have been feeding them Cat Chow, but recently tried the Purina One. They really like it. I read that it was a decent choice - better than a lot because chicken was the first ingredient. It is almost twice the price, but if it is better and we feed less and have less in the litter box (all things I have read), then it is a good thing. I am glad they like it.

We did the taste test, one feed bowl of Cat Chow and one of Purina One....so far all of them prefer the Purina One.

Thanks again.

Diane

sugarcatmom

January 25th, 2008, 08:13 PM

Any possibility I can convince you to feed your cats canned food instead? Purina One, while a step up from Cat Chow, is really a pretty lousy food for a carnivore. Here are the main ingredients of the Purina One Natural Blends Chicken & Oatmeal:

Not sure which type you have, but it's all just a variation on the same theme: way to many grains!!!! Add that to the fact that it's a dry food and you really aren't doing your cats any favours by feeding something better suited for livestock. I realize your options are limited, but next time you're at Walmart, pick up some cans of gluten-free Fancy Feast. While they're hardly top-of-the-line, at least they're low-carb and grain free. Even more importantly, they provide the much needed moisture that cats require with their food. Here's a list of the gluten-free flavours: http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm

Here are the ingredients for Gourmet Turkey & Giblets Feast, for comparison to the above: